Means for adjusting rope connected with elevator car for orienting a floor controller relative to the car



March 17, 193.1. M- BARUCH AL 1,796,281

MEANS FOR ADJUSTING ROPE CONNECTED WITH ELEVATOR CAR FOR ORIENTING A FLOOR CONTROLLER RELATIVE TO THE CAR Filed Aug. 27, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 g. (@0 Ca'IW/a J? Wed/kw March 17, 1931. BARUCH ET L 1,796,281

MEANS FOR ADJUSTING ROPE CONNECTED WITH ELEVATOR cAR FOR ORIENTING A FLOOR CONTROLLER RELATIVE TO THE CAR Filed 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 17, 1931. BARUCH ET AL 1,796,281

MEANS FOR ADJUSTING ROPE CONNECTED WITH ELEVATOR CAR FOR ORIEN'I'ING A FLOOR CONTROLLER RELATIVE To THE CAR Filed 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 71 I if M Patented Mar. 17, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MILTON BARUCH, OF LOS ANGELES, RAY 1]. DE CAMP, OF GLENDALE, AND CRANFORD P. WALKER, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOBS TO LLEWELLYN IRON WORKS, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA ZMEANS FOR. ADJUSTING ROPE CONNECTED WITH ELEVATOR CAR FOR ORIENTING A FLOOR CONTROLLER RELATIVE TO THE CAR Application filed August 27, 1928. Serial No. 302,374.

This invention relates to elevators and refers particularly to the type of elevator which is controlled by a floor controller for autonatically landing or stopping the elevators at one or more landings.

There are various forms of elevator mechanism in which the elevator is connected with the floor controller which have cams for operating switches to control the stopping of an elevator at thediiferent floors served by the elevator. These floor controllers are generally located in the pent house and are driven by a rope connected with the elevator car. If the rope between the elevator car and the floor controller stretches, for any reason, the floor controller will not be able to accurately land the elevator car at the landing. WVith the elevator apparatus now in use, it is necessary to make repeated manual adjustments of the rope between the floor controller and the car in order to properly orient the controller relative to the car.

The object of the present invention is to provide a means by which the rope interconnecting a floor controller with an elevator car may be automatically adjusted each time that a car fails to land level with a floor, to adjust the rope connecting between the floor controller in the car in order to compensate for any change in the length of said rope which has effected the non-level landing.

Various further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from a description of the preferred form or example of an apparatus embodying the invention. For this purpose, there is hereafter described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the preferred form or forms of elevator apparatus embodying the present invention.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic elevation of an elevator apparatus embodying the present invention and including also an electrical diagram.

Figure 2 is an enlarged diagrammatic plan view of the rope compensating switch mechanism between the elevator car and a landing.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic plan view of a modified form of the apparatus.

Figure 1 is an enlarged elevation of the ratchet and pawl mechanism of the compensator.

Figure 5 is a plan view of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings:

1 indicates an elevator car which is connected to cables 2 leading to a drum 3 driven by an electrical motor 1 5 indicates a counter-balancing weight connected with the cable 2 for coiuiter-balancing the weight of the car 1. 6 indicates a floor controlling machine of any desired or preferred construction. The specific construction of the floor controlling or landing machine is not illustrated, as any desired or preferred form of such landing machine may be used, it being understood that in practice, such floor controlling machines are provided with cams and switches connected by circuits with push-buttons or controllers in the car, for the purpose of efiecting an automatic stopping of the car at the floor landings.

The floor controller 6 has a drum surface receiving a rope 7 one end of which is connected to the bottom of the car, as indicated at 7a, and leads around a lower sheave 8 to a sheave 9 at the top of the elevator well. The rope hence passes around the drum surface on the floor controller 6 and extends over a sheave 10 to the top of the elevator car 1.

It will be seen that if the mechanism or cams provided on the floor controller 6 are to' stop the elevator car, accurately at the various landings, the length of cable between the car 1 and the floor controller 6 must be constant at each particular position of the elevator car 1 in the elevator shaft. In practice, due either to stretch of the rope 7 or slippage on the drum of the floor controller, or for various other reasons. the rope 7 fails to keep the floor controller 6 in the car, properly oriented with respect to each other, it is the practice in the art to manually correct for this inaccuracy by twisting the cable in such a direction that it changes its original length, restoring the accuracy of the stops.

In the present invention, the rope 7 is shown connecting with the top of the elevator car through a rope compensator 11. The rope compensator 11 is not illustrated in detail, as

effecting an inching adjustment of the compensator 11 whenever the car does not stop level with the landing. in the form of the invention shown in Figures 1 and 2, thesha'ft 12 of the rope compensatorll is shown as connected by gearing 13 with an electrical motor 14. This electrical motor 14 is shown as a three-phase motor to be operated by an A. 0. power supply line, comprising the power leads L1, L2 and L3. M1, M2 and M3 respectively indicate leads connecting the motor 14 with the power leads L1, L2 and L3 through a switching mechanism hereafter described.

On the top of the elevator car 1 there is provided a bracket 15 mounting cam operated switches 16 and 17 respectively, located one above the otherand of duplicate construction. The cam. operated switch 16 is for actuation of the motor 14 whenever the car stops below a landing and the cam operated switch 17 is for actuating the motor 14 whenever the car 1 stops above a landing. Each cam operated switch 16 and 17, as shown in Figure 2, comprises two contacts 13 and 19 adapted to be closed by a switch arm 20. The switch arm 20 is pivoted to the bracket 15, as indicated at 21 and is normally held in an open position by a spring 22, the movement of the switch arm 20 being limited by a stop 23. The switch arm 20 at its opposite end mounts a roller 24, which is adapted to be actuated by a knuckle joint 25 under certain conditions hereafter described.

The knuckle joint 25 is mounted by a bracket 26 secured to the hatchway of the elevator and provides a contact arm 27, which is normally in a position at one side of the rollers 24 of the switches 16 and 17 so that the rollers 24, when the elevator is traveling, do not strike the contact arm 27. The contact arm 27, as illustrated in Figure 1, is found disposed so that when the elevator car is stopped level at the landing adjacent the contact arm 27, said contact arm is vertically aligned with the open space between rollers 24 of switches 16 and 17 and thus could pass between the rollers it moved horizontally.

The arm 27 is pivoted to the bracket 26 as indicated at 23, so that it is capable of .moving in the direction to pass between the rollers 24, if the car is accurately level with the landing, or to contact with either the roller 24 of the upper switch 16 or roller 24 of the lower switch 17, ifthe car should stop slightly below or slightly above the landing. The contact arm 27 of the knuckle joint 25 also includes a lever 29 engaged by a coiled spring 30 which normally rotates the lever arm 29 into a position to clear the rollers 24; The contact arm 27 is further provided with an extension 31 having a knuckle joint 32 supporting a roller 33. The knuckle joint 32 is formed by a link 34 supporting the roller 33 -at one end and pivoted to the extension 31 at its other end. Extension 31 has a boss 35 providing a stop limiting the movement of the link 34. There is also provided a tension spring 36 normally holding the lever arm 34 against the boss 35 but yieldable to permit the lever to move in the opposite direction.

The roller 33 is mounted upon a vertical axis and is supported by the bracket 26 in a position to contact with a cam 33 carried by the hoistway door 39, preferably the main floor door. The cam 33 is a relatively short cam and is preferably in a position so that it engages the roller 34 only when the door is nearly fully open, but is in position to pass the roller 33 when the door is fully opened.

in operation, whenever the hoistway door 39 is opened, the cam 38 en ages the roller 33, pivoting the link 34 to permit the cam to pass the roller ll hen the hoistway door 39 is again closed, the cam 38 engages the roller 33, the knuckle joint is locked in this direction of movement, and the entire cam arm 27 is therefore pivoted towards the rollers 24 of the switches mounted on the elevator car 1. If the elevator car 1 has stopped level with the landing, the arm 27 merely passes between the rollers 24 until the cam 38 is permitted to pass the roller 33, whereupon the compression spring 30 pivots the cam arm 27 back to a position where it would well clear the rollers 24 when the'car moves in the elevator well. l/Vhen, however, the car is not level with the landing, this operation will cause a momentary closing of either the switch 16 or switch 17 7 Now referring particularly to Figure 1, a source of direct current XY, is employed to regulate control circuits for the A. C. motor 14, the main X being indicated as connected with contacts 18 of both switches 16 and 17. The contact 19 of switch 16 connects with line X1, while the contact 19 of switch 17 connects with line X2. Line X1 is shown leading to a coil 40 of the relay A and, hence, the line X1 leads to contacts 42 of a trip relay C. The main Y connects with the opposite contacts of the trip relay 42.

The line X2 leading from switch 17 connects with the coil 43 ot relayB, which coil also connects with line 44.

Each of the relays A and B have three contacts, switch relay A being provided with contacts'45, 46 and 47, and relay B being provided with contacts 48, 49 and 50. Main L2 connects with contacts and .43, main L1 connects with contacts 47 and 50, and contacts and are connected with motor lead M2, while contacts 47 and 48 are connected with motor lead M3. Motor lead M1 is connected directly wit-h main L3. Contact 46 is connected with line X1 and contact 49 with line X2. The opposite sides of said contacts leading through coils 53 and 54 respectively, of the trip relay C. The leads X1 and X2 are also connected respectively through resistances 51 and 52 to the coils 53 and 54.

In operation, whenever the switch 16 closes, X1 is made alive to X potential and relay A is closed. This connects mains L1 and L2 with motor leads M2 and M3 respectively, sending a short impulse to revolve the motor 14, to draw up the rope compensator 11. This impulse is for only a momentary period of time, since simultaneously, a circuit is established through line X1 and contact 46 to actuate the trip relay C through its coil 53 to open contact 42, and break the holding circuit of relay A. As a consequence of this operation, there is a small takeup or inching movement of the rope compensator 11. it will be seen, in a similar manner it the switch 17 were closed, relay B would be actuated to connect mains L1 and L2 with the motor leads M2 and M3, respectively, and the I trip relay operated to break the circuit with the resulting effect that the motor would be operated in the reverse direction for a short period of time. To cause the relays A and B to hold open for a moment, the reversing relays A and B may be magnetically damped or lagged by any preferred or well known means, such as by the use of heavy copper tubes around the cores, or any other method, so that they open or drop out slowly when the contact 42 opens.

It the impulses given to the rope compensator 11 are not sufficient to adjust the rope 7 to restore accuracy of landing, the same sequence of operations will be followed on each succeeding stopping of the car, until the rope 7 is finally adjusted in order to accurately orient the floor controller 6 relative to the car 1.

If switches 16 and 17 should stick or the cam mechanism should stick, or if the door is locked partly closed so that the cam is operating either switch 16 or 17, no harm will result to the motor or the cable of the compensator. As long as the switches 16 and 17 are held closed, the trip relay C will be locked open, holding the reversing switches A and B open. The resistances 51 and 52 in series with the coils 53 and 54 of trip relays C are not sufficient to operate it, but will maintain the same open after the relays A and B have operated it. The motor, therefore, can receive only a single impulse each time the circuit is closed, no matter how long the circuit is maintained closed.

Now, referring to Figures 3 to 5 of the drawings, an entirely mechanical means for rope compensation is illustrated. The means illustrated in this form of the invention also includes a cam 50a on the hoistway door in position to contact with a knuckle joint 51a carried by a bracket 52a in the hatchway. For this pur ose, a bracket 52a pivotally mounts the n arm 53a l aving cam at its end, whi

a cam arm is normally held in retracted position by a compression spring 55. he cam arm 5360 includes the knuckle joint link 56 n'iounting a roller 57. The link is held from pivoting to the right by a boss 58 and is normally held against said boss by a spring 59. The roller 57 is in position to engage the cam of the hoistway door a d will yield to permit the cam to pass the roller when the door is open.

The roller 57, however, will not permit a cam to pass as the door is closed, except by p'vot g the cam arm 536; as a body on the bracket forcing the cam 54a towards rollers 60 a 61, on ratchet rope compensator mocha, sin 62. {See Figures 4 and 5). Tie ratchet rope compensating means includes a ratchet wheel 63 geared to a rope compensator l11'i connected to the con troll r rope 7 in the manner as snown in Figure 1.

The ratchet wheel is journaled in the frame 64 which slidably mounts opposed pawl carrying rods 65 and 66. The rods 65 and 66 are yieldingly urged to the right by compression springs 67 and 68. The rods 65 and 66 carry pawls 69 and 7 O which are adapted to engage opposite sic-es of the ratchet wheel 63, the pawls being pivoted to the rods and provided with compression springs 71 and 72, respectively.

The rollers 60 and 61 respective" ar mounted upon links 73 and 74 respectively, which are pivoted at one end to a common point and at their other ends to the rods 65 and 66, respectively. The rollers 60 and 61 are so disposed relative to the cam that when the car is brought accurately level with the landing, the cam can be forced into the space between the rollers without pressing either roller backward. Whenever the car is not brought level with the landing, the cam 54% will engage either the roller 60 or the roller 61, pressing to the right the corresponding pawl and rotate the ratchet wheel 63 through a small movement.

It will thus be in operation, that whenever this form of mechanism us used, the car stops level with the main floor landing, the opening and closing of the door has no effect on the ratchet wheel 63. However, when the car is, for example, below the lane ing, the cam 54 engages the roller 61, the roller 61 will be pushed inwardly, causing the pawl to rotate the ratchet wheel 63, drawing up on the controller rope 7 to correct the relative position of the car and floor controller. This movement, however, is only a fraction of a turn. If this movement is insufiicient to correct the floor controller relative to the car, in order to land the car accuately at the landings, the next opening and closing of a door will cause the same thing to happen, until the car finally lands level with the landing. In a similar manner, it the car lands too high, the rollers 60 will be pressed to twist the ratchet wheel in the opposite direction. It is understood that in the floor compensators 11 and 11 A, the worm connection is made irreversible, so that the floor compensators 11 and 11A do not move unless intentionally rotated.

It will also be seen that with the mechanism of the present invention, it the stops become consistently low or consistently high, due to an especially weak or strong braking action, the mechanism will compensate for the characteristicof the brake and operate to orient the floor controller the so that with such a brake, an accurate landing will be secured.

While the mechanism is orienting a floor controller with the elevator car h rein de scribed is well adapted to carry out the objects of the invention, it is understood that various modifications and changes may be made within the scope of the invention and the invention includes all such modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Vi e claim 1. The combination withan elevator car and floor controller for the car, of a rope connecting the floor controller with the car, a rope compensator connected with said rope, means for automatically actuatin the rope compensator when the car stops non-level with the landing, for correctly orienting the floor controller with the car.

2. The combination with an elevator car and a floor controller for landing the car, of a rope connecting the floor controller with the car, a rope compensator connected with said rope mounted upon the car, and means adapted to be actuated when a car stops nonlevel with the landing, to operate the rope compensator to correct the orientation be tween the floor controller and car.

3. The combination with an elevator car and floor controller, of a rope connecting the floor controller with a car, a rope compensator connected with said rope, means to drive said rope compensator, and means on the hoistway door for automatically setting in operation said latter means when the car has stopped non-level with the landing.

4:. The combination with an elevator car and floor controller, of a rope connecting the floor controller with a car, a rope compensator connected with said rope, a hoistway door having a cam, and means on the car engageable with said cam for operating the rope compensator in opposite directions, de-

pending upon whether the car stops below or i car lands below a floor to initiate an operation thereof. I V

6. The combination with an elevator car and a floor controller for the car, of a rope connected with the car and floor controller, a rope compensator connected with said rope and car, a'ratchet wheel connected with said rope compensator, a pawl for operating said ratchet wheel, and means for actuating said pawl whenever the car steps below a landin 7. The combination with an elevator car and floor controller, of a rope connecting the floor controller and car, a rope compensator connected with said rope, a ratchet wheel for driving said rope compensator, of closed pawls engageable with said ratchet wheel for driving the same in opposite directions, and means engageable with one of said pawls when the car stops non-level'with the landing for automatically actuating the rope compensator.

8 The combination with an elevator car and floor controller, of a rope connecting the car with the floor controller, a rope compensator' connected with said rope, a hoistway door having a cam, a contact arm having a knuckle joint movable into contact with a car whereby the contact arm is moved only on closing the door, means on said car for driving the rope compensator, said means ineluding means engageable with said contact arm for actuating the same only when the car stops non-level with the landing.

9. The combination with an elevator car and a floor controller, of a rope connecting the car with the floor controller, a rope compensator connected with said rope on said car, means for driving said rope compensator through a single inching-movement, a hoistway door, and means on said hoistway door for actuating the driving means with said compensator when the car'stops non-level with the floor, said means including means to permit only a single actuation of the rope compensator on each closing of the door.

Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 20th day of August, 1928. I

MILTON BARUCH. RAY E.- DE CAMP. CRANFORD P. WVALKER. 

